Foxy TeBe

Last night was the cup semi- final against the foxes, an event that would usually have been top of any sane person's priority list but it was not just the 5.30pm kick-off on a Champions' League night (like why? why?) that dampened that cup run feeling a bit but also the current position TeBe are in. Most of the fans would gladly have the cup just disappear this year for two major reasons:

Firstly - the apparently still continuing wrangling over the participation of Fuss in that critical game against T-spor is still dangling over our heads. TeBe won the game and so far the sport council has agreed that they acted correctly on an issue that does not seem to have clear guidelines because the league and the cup are organised by two different bodies. Remember, the cup really is not that important this year. With the redrawing of the league system, this is a fight for survival this year. Either you are in the top 3 and get a leg up into the higher echelons of German football, or you miss the chance and in theory go down a division and get stuck behind a set of potentially difficult opponents. Losing points in the league through court due to some unclear overlap of rules with the cup organisers could be the difference between top 3 or 4th or 5th place this season - "Death or Glory" as the Clash once said.

Secondly - It was a pretty good bet that TeBe would meet East Berlin rivals FC Union in the final. The final is usually a fun affair without too much security and the TeBe fans normally manage to turn it into a good party. But against Union means lots of police, divided fan blocks, possible violence, some assholes there for sure and almost certainly a pathetic attempt to depict themselves as the poor East team against the rich West team as part of their pro-AF stadium campaign. They would (being 2 divisions above) also have the edge on the field and the players would become heroes if they ensured a TeBe humiliation. Not really something to look forward to.

So last nights scores:

Semi final: Reinickendorfer Füchse - TeBe

1:2 (1:2)

Wed, 02.04.2008 | 17.30 | Freiheitsweg

Referee: Robert Wessel

As I said above, the focus this season is the league and this 2-1 win over a lower division team was probably not the confidence boost we needed after our recent draw and loss in the league ended a good and necessary winning streak. But a cup final place is a cup final place.

At first when the reports started coming in from the other match, many of us thought it was just a problem with the live score system. Hermsdorf really could not still be keeping a clean sheet against Union, surely not. But the reports were still flowing in and we had extra time and then penalties. Here the final result:



So congratulations to Hermsdorf it is, them winning 7-8 on penalties. As Bungle wrote on Lila-Kanal, any team that can hold their nerve right up to the end like that is surely not going to be an easy opponent for the final. Most importantly for me it means we can hopefully look forward to a party atmosphere now without hundreds of riot police and stress.

4th June it is - Jahn Sportpark

TeBe vs Hermsdorf

And now the traditional cup final song from the Boys in Brown from Hamburg.



Now the league boys.... Friday night is a crucial 3 points.